Swan Place by Augusta Trobaugh Page B

what seemed like forever, I knew how to get us home.
    Our little gray house never looked better than when we came up the steps. We were tired and scratched and hungry, and when we got inside, my first thought was to call Aunt Bett and tell her what happened. But then I would have to tell her that Roy-Ellis wasn’t home—hadn’t been home. Before I could think it all through, the phone rang. It was Aunt Bett.
    “Where’s Roy-Ellis?”
    “Uh  . . . he’s gone to bed real early,” I said, wanting instead to cry and tell her how scared we had all been. “He’s awful tired from working so hard,” I added, so now there was no doubt about it. I had lied. Twice. Sure enough!
    “And where have you all been all afternoon?” Aunt Bett went on. “I’ve been calling and calling. Are you all right? I’ve worried myself half to death!”
    “I’m sorry, Aunt Bett. We just went for a walk, is all.” Maybe I’d lied flat out about Roy-Ellis, but that didn’t mean I had to keep on lying. And after all, we certainly had been for a walk!
    “Well, just so you’re all okay,” Aunt Bett muttered.
    “Yes’m.”
    “And did you all change out of your church clothes before you went for a walk?”
    “Yes’m.”
    After I got off the phone, I tried so hard to settle myself down, if only for Molly and Little Ellis’s sake. But I knew I had to tell someone—anyone—about what happened. It was just bothering me too bad to keep it to myself, but I had to find a way to talk about it without letting Molly and Little Ellis know how scared I’d been. Of course, I wanted most of all to tell Aunt Bett, but I couldn’t do that. Not without breaking my word to Roy-Ellis. So who else could I tell? Who could I trust?
    Savannah!
    But it was a Sunday, and I couldn’t talk to her on a Sunday, because all she could do on the Sabbath was read the Bible and think about God, even after supper. All the way to bedtime. But I had to find a way—and I did! I got my Bible and led Molly and Little Ellis through the dried weeds under the old pecan trees—toward Aunt Mee’s house. As we got closer, I could make out Savannah sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch, with her head bent down and her eyes on the pages of the Bible in her lap. Toward the back of the house, I could hear dishes rattling. Then Molly and Little Ellis and I came—bold as brass!—across Aunt Mee’s immaculately swept front yard. Not a blade of grass to blemish its pure, clean surface! Savannah glanced up at us, and then she jerked her head toward the screened door, where Aunt Mee might appear at any moment. Then she bent her head obediently back down to the Bible lying open in her lap. But under her dark brows, her warm, brown eyes were watching us. We came up the steps, and I shushed Molly and Little Ellis, settling them at the end of the porch.
    “Now you two be quiet!” I whispered, and I glared at them just a little bit, to let them know how important this was. Savannah was still watching me from beneath her strong-looking eyebrows. I sat down in the rocking chair beside her and flipped my Bible open. The first words I saw were: “Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” It was Isaiah 32:1. So I read them aloud: “Behold!” I said to Savannah, and she jumped and glanced at the screen door again. “A King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And behold!” I repeated. “A man—a stranger—scared us at the playground today,” I continued, in a voice that sounded like I was reading right out of the Bible.
    Savannah looked a bit startled for a moment, and then she read back to me, “And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, ‘Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice  . . . ’ and saideth unto them, ‘ What man?’ ”
    I flipped a few more pages, and wound up in Jeremiah,